BRICK LOCK LAYING AND CONCRETING SKILLS: A ROAD MAP FOR MITIGATING YOUTHS’ MIGRATION FROM NIGERIA

The study aimed at assessing brick and block laying and concreting skills; a road map for mitigating youths’ migration from Nigeria. Specifically, three objectives, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 48 respondents, comprising 30 brick/block laying and concreting Teachers and 18 Instructors in the four Government Technical Colleges in Rivers State. The study was a census as the entire population was studied. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Brick/Block Laying and Concreting Questionnaire (BBLCQ)”. The instrument was structured on five point likert type rating scale of Very High Extent (VHE), High Extent (HE), Undecided (UD), Low Extent (LE) and Very Low Extent (VLE). A corresponding numerical value of 5, 4,3,2 and 1 was assigned to the response scale for each item as represented below with real limits. The instrument was subjected to face validation by three experts. The internal consistency of the instrument was 0.82, was obtained as reliability coefficient of the instrument. The findings of the study showed that the respondents agreed to a high extent that brick laying skills; a road map for mitigating youths’ migration from Nigeria. The findings of the study showed that the respondents agreed to a high extent is block laying skills; a road map for mitigating youths’ migration from Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were outlined: Building Industries should organize workshop for their craftsmen on the areas where skills improvement are needed to mitigate youth migration from Nigeria. Training should be organized by the management of the construction firms and should accord priority attention to the modern skills of construction which in-turn ensure a constant supply of competent craftsmen for the construction industry.